Dyeing apparatus



Feb. 9, 1932. J. H. sKlTT DY-EING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 21, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. J/YMEs/S/f/ 77,

A TTORNEY.

Feb. 9, 1932. y V H, sKlTT 1,844,695

DYEING APPARATU S Filed Jan. 21. 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet` 2 30 |H' 4 [M "iml 3% 3/ INVENTOR.

BY fmz A TTORN E Y Patented Feb. 9, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT oF-FICE JAMES IEE. SKITT, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TQ SIIITH, DRUM'. &:l COMPANY, OF PHILADELINHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYIP VANIA DYEING APPARATUS lApplication led January 21, 1930. Serial No. 422,296.y

The present invention relates to the art of dyeing and more particularly to a means for supplying a liquor to a material to be dyed or otherwise treated.

In dyeingapparatus heretofore employed in treating and dyeing materials, particularly skeins of yarn, it has been customary to suspend the skeins upon a perforated hollow rod and discharge the dyeing liquor through the rod perforations with suiiicient pressure to lift the skeins and bring about what may be termed a floating action in that the discharged liquor holds the yarn away from the rod. While this iioating action is advantageous in promoting uniform treatment by `the liquor it is unfortunately accompanied by a forcing apart of the skein threads (due to the full pressure of the discharging liquor acting directly on the under surface of the skein, so that much of the dye liquor passes through the skeins and falls in a spray at some distance away from the skeins).

Thus the suspended outside portions lof thel skeins are exposed to the air and oxidation takes place leaving the yarn streaky and `discolored instead of uniformly dyed.

Some of the objects of the present invention are to provide an improved apparatus for dyeing `or otherwise treating materials; to provide a mechanism for supplying a liquor to yarn skeins or ot-her goods wherein the liquor is uniformly distributed tothe goods being treated; to provide a dyeing or treating apparatus wherein the liquor is so applied asf-to prevent air from coming in contact with the material during the treating process; to provide means for supplying a dyeing or treating liquor to skeins of yarn in such a manner as`to prevent displacement and entanglement of the skein strands; tol supply a v'liquor to suspended yarn skeins 1n ing down the exposed side of the hanging skeins: to provide an apparatus for prevent- Fig. l; Fig. 4 representsa perspective of a;-

modified form of carrier; Fig. 5 represents a section on line 4 4 of Fig. 4 showing a skein of yarn in place; and Fig. 6 represents a `detail of one of the spacerelements.

Referring to the drawings one form of the present invention consists of a carrier 10 arranged to be supported at one end upon a liquid supply pipe 11, which is carried by the frame 12 of the dyeing or treating machine to which the invention is applied. Preferably the support for the carrier 10 is located at one end thereof in order to leave the opposite end free and unobstructed so that skeins of yarn or other material can be v treating liquid, functions efliciently for fine grades, such as Silks and rayons, aswell as the coarser grades of material. It will'be understood that the invention is also intended for use in the treating of piece goods or any other material which can be supported thereon.

In the present instance the carrier 10 consists of an elongated tube '14, preferably of lsubstantially cylindrical shape buthaving its top portion split longitudinally to provide a slot 15 opening outward so that liquid discharged froin the inside of the tube 14: can have unobstructed contactpwith the underneath portion of any material supported above the tube 14. The two ends of the split portion are bent inwardly and reversely turned to form baiies 16 respectively at the sides of the slot, which baiiies project into the path of the supplied liquid as will presently ap ear.

or the purpose of discharging the treating liquid into the tube 14 another elementof the carrier 10 consistsof a hollow support 17, here shown as of rectangular section and having a length equal to the length of the tube 14. This support 17 is fixedly mounted within the tube 14 being arranged diametrically thereof and extending axially of the slot 15 though its sides are respectively spaced from the baiiies 16 in order that the discharged liquid can pass out of the tube 14 through two relatively narrow passages. The height of the support 17 is somewhat greater than the diameter of the tube 14 so that the skeins of yarn are mainly supported in spaced relation to the side outlet passages,

y but the side portions of each skein rest upon and generally follow the contour of the tube 14.

The supported end of the hollow support 17 is connected to the inlet pipe 11 so that the dyeing or treating liquid enters the support 17v and is discharged therefrom by way of a plurality of holes 18 provided in the two sides of the support 17. rFliese rows of holes are preferably in close proximity to the bottom of the tube 14 and sincethe inlet pipe 11 enters the support 17 at .substantially the center portion of the tube 14, the entering liquid is required to pass downwardly in the support 17 and then exit laterally against the upwardly and curving walls of the tube 14. As the entering liquid is under pressure from the supply pump the streams of liquid leaving the two rows of holes 18 follow upward along the respective inner faces of the tube 14 and respectively strike the batlies 16. In this way the direct force of the liquid is broken and the liquid passing around the baiiies rises through the side passages of the slot 15 into contact with the undersurface of the supported skeins of yarn. Thile the pressure of the liquid has thus been reduced sufficiently to prevent separation of the skein strands, the iiow through the passages has enough pressure for the liquid to workupwardly through the skein strands and iow from the top surface thereof down over the sides of the hanging strands. While this iiow `upward and outward of the slot passages takes place under pressure, it is not the pressure of direct impact and therefore ioats. fills and covers the yarn without causing displacement and tangling of the strands. By reference to Fig. 3 of the drawings it will be seen that the two streams of discharging liquid leave the tube outwardly divergent with respect to the support 17 and this brings about the very desirable result of covering the outer exposed sides of the skeins with a. film 24 which in efect insulates them from contact with the air. In addition to this formation of a lilm upon the outer sides of the yarn, there is a like film 25 formed upon the inner sides of the yarn due to the fact that the emerging liquid rolls downwardly between the skeins and the face of the tube 14 as will be seen. The aforesaid diverging action of the liquid as it is discharged from the tube 14 is made more effective bythe fact that the support 17 projects above the top of the tube 14 and thus provides two ejecting passages 20 extending lengthwisel of each side of the tube, each of which increases from its junction with the slot 15.

The ends of the carrier 10 are respectively closed by caps 21 and 22, the former sealing the free end of the carrier while the latter is apertured to allow the passage of the liquid supply pipe 11. Each of these caps is provided with a circumferential flange 23 which serves "to prevent endwise displacement of the supported skeins of yarn.

ln the form of the invention shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6 asupport for the skeins is provided in the form of a blade 26 which extends medially of the slot 27 of the tube 28 between the baffles 30 formed by the reversely turned ends of the tube 28.y The blade 2.6 is' welded or otherwise fastened to the top of a pipe 31 which runs lengthwise in close proximity to the bottom of the tube 28 and is in communication with the source of liquid supply, such i as the inlet pipe 11 of Fig. 1. Two rows of discharge outlets 32 are provided respectively in the sides of the pipe 31 and in such relation to the inner wall of the tube 28 as to direct the streams of liquid against this wall to rise upwardly and be deflected bythe baflies 30.

For subdividing the two streams of liquor leaving the tube 28 by way of the two longitudinal passages, two strips 33 of suitable material are mounted to divide each stream into two streams leaving opposite sides of the blade 26. These strips 33 are held in place edgewise and radially of the carrier by a plu rality of arc shaped spacers 34 which seat upon the pipe 31 and have radially disposed slots 35 to receive the respective strips 33 and a centrally arranged slot 36 to interi-it with the blade 26. Thus with the spacers held by the blade Q6 a simple and effective anchoring of the spacers is obtained and the strips 33 position the sides of the skeins rest upon the sides of the tube 14 and the lower ends of the skeins hang well below the carrier 10 and generally over a tank containing the dyeing or treating liquid. With the skeins so positioned the pump or other means of supplying liquid to the carrier 10 is started and the fluid enters the support 17 at substantially the central portion thereof and exits through the side holes 18 with a pressure which causes the fluid to discharge upwardly along the .sides of the tube 14, impact with the baiiies 16 and then pass around the baliies and exit through the two side passages 20, where it enters the underside of the skeins, forces its way therethrough, so that some of the liquid runs down the outside of the skein, another portion traverses the skein strands and still another portion travels along the inner face of the skein. That portion of the liquid which flows from the outside of the skeins is suflicient in quantity to form a continuous film 24 which is maintainedthroughout the length of the skeins, while the portion that lows along the inner sides of the skein orms a like film 25, also extending throughout the length of the skein. iThese two films form an import-ant feature of the invention in that each serves to prevent air from coming into direct contact with the skein strands during the dyeing operation and hence discoloration and uneven dyeing is prevented because it is impossible for the disadvantageous oxidation to occur.

While the foregoing has dealt with several forms of apparatus embodying the present invention, it is here pointed out that fundamentally the invention embodies a new method of dyeing which can be carried out by other forms of apparatus other than that here illustrated. Thus broadly stated the method y consists in causing a. surplus of dyeing or treating liquid to flow between yarn skeins and the support thereof under such a pressure as to lift the skeins slightly from the support to give a flooding of the skein threads y with an accompanying flow of the liquid along the inner and outer faces of the skeins in the form of a film which protects the skeins from contact with the air during the dyeing step. The flooding actionl is caused by the welling of the liquid upwardly through the discharge passages, but the-floating action is not suflicient to cause lateral displacement of the skeins or the skein threads.

Having thus described my application I claim:

1. 4A carrier for supporting material to be treated comprising a tube provided with a longitudinal slot, a hollow support insaid tube entering said slot to provide two liquid discharge passages leading from said tube,

vsaid support having discharge holes in the sides thereof, and means for introducing liquid intosaid support.

2. A carrier for supporting material to be treated comprising a tube providedu with a longitudinal slot, a hollow support in said i tube entering said slot to provide two liquid discharge passages leading from said tube, said supporthaving discharge holes inthe sides thereof, baliies respectively between said passages and said holes, and means for iri-= troducing liquid into said support.

3. A carrier for supporting material to be treated comprising a tube provided with a lported betweensaid parts andsa'id tube to orm a plurality of discharge passages.

5. A carr'ier comprising a tubular support for material to be treated provided with a liquid discharge slot in the top portion there of, a supplemental support for holding a portion of said material spaced from said tubular support, and means to supply liquid to said tubular support to discharge through said slot into the space formed between the material and the tubular support.

6. A carrierfor supporting material to be treated comprising a tube provided with a slot, a support entering said slot to form a liquid discharge passage leading from said tube, and means to introduce liquid into said tube to discharge through said dischargeV of Dec., 1929.'

J ARIES H. SKITT. 

